Questor Insurance News

Heathrow announces record numbers of passengers

Heathrow Airport has made headlines yet again for its record number of passengers during September 2015 as it hits the 40,292 flight mark.

The airport has seen a record number of 6.77 million passengers fly through its doors in September this year, with the average seats per flights witnessing an increase of 2% when compared to the same time in 2014.

Huge increases

Management at the airport has said that this volume of passengers is “particularly strong”, especially to locations such as Mexico which saw an increase of 16.5%, while China witnessed an 11.9% increase and there was a 7.2% rise in travellers heading to the Middle East.

However, it wasn’t just Brits travelling abroad that caused this rise in figures but also cargo which saw a surge of 1.4% over the past 12 months – with huge growths in the markets of Mexico (36%), Turkey (25%), Brazil (13%) and India (5%).

During the same time, Heathrow management also took the opportunity to promote its new expansion plans which is set to see even more passenger traffic.

Becoming the driving force

Management from the airport has argued that the expansion of Heathrow could be the “driving force” behind the rebalancing of the UKs economy by creating even more export links.

Meanwhile, with the issue of air pollution being the largest foreseen problem behind the expansion, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has confirmed that by 2020 the airport will meet EU air quality standards.

John Holland-Kaye, CEO at Heathrow, said that with this expansion on the cards, the airport has a “once in a generation opportunity” to create more than 180,000 jobs and provide the future generation of the UK with an infrastructure that will keep Britain “at the heart of the global economy”.

With the Government calling for new roads and runways to be built, Heathrow are ready to make this project happen, he explained.